Posts Tagged abandoned

Psalm 22: 1

My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?

Many people recognize these words as having been spoken by Jesus from the cross. When the sin of the world hit him, he was isolated from his father. Did you realize, though, David penned the same words and that they are recorded in the 22nd Psalm? Appreciating that fact made me think that other people have likely felt the same way at some time in their lives. I know I have. Yet, if you read the rest of David’s psalm, you hear how his attitude changed. The end of the psalm is written in confidence and gratitude for God’s delivering power.

David went through some challenges in his life but he well knew that the Lord was his strength. No matter how bad things got; no matter how worried David became, in his depths he knew God would deliver him. From deep within him, the strength of the Lord would rise up. David’s trust and confidence in the Lord would overwhelm the greatest of problems. Before long, he would be writing a psalm of praise extolling the Lord’s delivering grace.

No matter how alone you feel and how desperate your situation appears, know for a fact that the Lord has not abandoned nor forsaken you. I know it feels like you are alone but just like David, when you take your eyes off of the enormity of the problems surrounding you and put them back on your Father, you will find that He was standing right beside you the whole time. He is well able and willing to deliver you from this present trouble. Trust his love and power.

Hebrews 13: 5 – 6 Index Card 6

He Himself has said, “I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you,” so that we confidently say, “The Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid. What will man do to me?”

This verse speaks about confidence and I find myself thinking, “Yes, this is the kind of confidence I need.” I want to be unafraid. I want to abound in radical trust in the Lord. Life will certainly take on a different flavor when we trust the Lord that extensively. We will answer His call on our lives. We will believe we can do what he says we can do because he is our helper. We are not alone. He will not abandon us.

I used to often feel lonely. Now I almost never do. I have grown in my awareness of God with me, Jesus in me and the Holy Spirit leading me. I certainly am not in the full radical trust in the Lord Jesus that I would like to live but I have learned that he is always with us and thus, we never have to feel alone or lonely. His word is good and it is true. He will never leave us nor forsake us. You will never be abandoned or left to fend on your own. Amen.

Psalm 27: 10

For my father and my mother have forsaken me, but the Lord will take me up.

Have your ever felt forsaken? Almost everyone feels some level of abandonment or rejection at some point in their lives. If you have gone through a divorce you may have suffered through feelings of abandonment. Maybe a parent was not completely present for you or their death left you feeling like an orphan. One can experience these feelings either from a spouse, parent, boyfriend or girlfriend. You might have even gone through a period when you felt all of your friends abandoned you. You may even feel abandoned by your children. The point is that most everyone goes through a period where they at least felt abandoned and certainly there are real instances of abandonment. These feelings of rejection can be devastating and have lifelong implications. They are not only life altering but life determinative by which I mean that if one has experienced deep feelings of abandonment at a young age they may never develop into the person that God created them to be. Their lives could be determined by the injury rather than by the blessing of God. That is a great loss.

There is great news though. No matter how devastated we have felt, we have never been orphaned, never once left alone or forsaken. At every one of those uncomfortable bends in the road the Lord, our God and Father, has been standing there with His arms open. Actually that is an understatement. He wasn’t just waiting for us to jump into His arms but rather He was carrying us. In the midst of our pain we may not have felt His love and support but it was there as was He.

Can you remember instances in your life when you felt the deep pain of abandonment and rejection? If you will mentally and emotionally go back to those times and this time see your Holy Father there embracing you, you can rectify the damage that those injuries caused you. You do not have to go along all your life carrying the hurt from parents or other loved ones who did not meet your needs. You can be fully healed and restored. You are not alone and you never have been, not even for an instant. Your heavenly father has been ever present and ever loving. Fill those voids with the love that knows no bounds. Reach out for the love that heals.

It is tragic to see a life not only unfulfilled but tainted by hurts suffered. So many people continue to bear the scars and battle wounds when there is healing available. What’s worse is that we remain susceptible to further injury when we do not allow healing to take place. Even worse, we pass those injuries onto our children and other loved ones. There is no need when we have a father who is full of love and grace and has healing in His hands. Embrace the loving hands of the father and allow Him to take all the hurts away.